The University of Cincinnati recently teamed up with Shandong University in Jinan, China to collaborate on the Joint Management Research Center and to establish a UC taught Executive Master of Business Arts program.

The UC College of Business Dean, Will McIntosh and Vice Provost of UC International Affairs, Mitch Levanthal signed two agreements in 2006 that are set to break ground for the Joint Management Research Center and the Executive Master of Business Arts program.

"I was hired by UC president, Nancy Zimpher because UC had no international strategy," Levanthal said. "UC signed many agreements with many different countries to explore new ideas and options but nothing really ever happened, and this is very common among universities. I wanted to come in and actually make this plan work."

The center is already open at Shandong and UC's center is scheduled to open in late 2007. Both centers offer a range of urban research efforts from health related issues, crime prevention, pollution and land use.

"We wanted to make a center where we can offer a broad perspective of research, which is the center of the UC|21 academic plan," Levanthal said.

The Executive MBA program will begin September 2007. It will be the first EMBA degree program offered in China by UC. EMBA is an executive MBA program where a students can earn an executive masters of business administration degree.

"Shandong realized that the United States has quality business education programs and for them to move forward in better business innovation that must have a strong business background, in which most Chinese educations are lack," Levanthal said.

The Chinese do not have a strong business education background so they are using this EMBA program to make advances.

"Many eastern countries are seeking partners in the West," said Lawrence Gales, College of Business academic director for international programs. "Our business program is very much superior and this gives UC a great opportunity to spread the word about the amazing things UC is expanding on and it is also a tremendous revenue project." "This is part of a larger project that President Zimpher wants to incorporate to UC and that have excellent international opportunities for UC students," Gales said.

Shandong is a prestigious university in China that is often over looked, according to Leventhal. The university ranks among the top-20 in China nationally and is China's third-oldest university.

"Shandong is a lot like UC in a sense that it's in a city where people do not do as much traveling to because there are bigger cities throughout the country," Levanthal said. "Many people overlook Jinan as a whole and never get to experience what it has to offer, a lot like the city of Cincinnati compared to other cities in the United States such as Los Angeles and New York City," Levanthal said.

Shandong University was chosen by nine UC deans from various colleges. They visited different universities in China and presented an idea to all of them. Shandong was the most enthusiastic about UC's ideas of the universities visited and UC decided to break ground with them.

The Chinese government is also playing a part in the program. Before any degrees will be issued, they must obtain government approval.

"In time both projects will build itself up and become prominent forces," Levanthal said. "We encourage all our faculty to become involved because if we have professors that know each other and are well-informed of one another's teachings, this will give students a great opportunity to explore the advantages to these new ideas," Levanthal said.